[Buildbot-devel] Observing a logfile

[Brian Warner]

> On our buildslaves are some HTML-log files that are repeatedly rewritten
> while the build process is running.
> It would be very nice to show these log files somewhere within the
> Waterfall page.

Yeah, just add a 'logfiles' argument when you construct the ShellCommand,
with a dictionary that maps an arbitrary name to the filename of the log file
that should be watched. There's an example in the user's manual here:

  http://buildbot.net/repos/release/docs/buildbot.html#ShellCommand

With this, there will be a new link (with that arbitrary name) in the step's
box on the waterfall page, pointing to a copy of the logfile. The contents of
the file are pulled over in realtime, while the step runs.

The LogObserver class is for writing code that processes or otherwise looks
at the logfile contents as the step runs. If you just want humans to be able
to see them, the logfiles= argument is plenty.

hope that helps!
 -Brian